“We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement. Our customers do the same as customers anywhere else – they bet on outcomes of events.”

“We are firm in our belief that tax policy should not be defined on the basis of the wording of a betting slip.”

“The fact is that a tax on Betfair’s punters would be inequitable, and would penalise them purely for being our customers. If a tax is brought in on successful punters, it must be brought in across the board.”

For more information please contact Andrew Silverman on 07793 264972

Notes to Editors:

1. Betfair (www.betfair.com) was the first person-to-person betting exchange. A betting exchange allows punters to bet on prices set by punters themselves rather than by a bookmaker, which, by one independent study, results in Betfair’s odds being 20% better than bookmakers’ starting prices.

2.Betfair was launched in June 2000 and is already the UK’s No 1 online betting company. At peak times the exchange – based on the NYSE - matches up to 12,000 bets a minute.

3.The company’s co-founders – former professional gambler Andrew Black and former JPMorgan vice-president Edward Wray – were jointly voted Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2002. In April 2003 Betfair won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category.

4.In 2002, Betfair was the 4th biggest sponsor of horse races in the UK in terms of the number of races covered. The company was the 2002/3 shirt sponsor of the Premiership’s Fulham FC.